Archive for the 'Scenic Design' Category

Love, Loss, and What I Wore

Posted in General Production, Lighting Design, Scenic Design on November 12th, 2018 by Eric Appleton

It’s been a hectic semester so far, and I haven’t had much time to post pictures from our last two shows. In fact, on the first show of the semester, “Love, Loss, and What I Wore,” I didn’t get the set dressing done until the afternoon we opened, so I never managed to get photos of the complete set during a run (or production photos for that matter.).

Still, in the spirit of catching up, here’s a photo of the finished half inch scale model. . .

And the set under preset lighting as we wait for tech to begin. That’s the back of director Angela Ianonne there on the left.

This is from final dress, and Gingy talks about her Brownie uniform. You can see the unfinished dress drawings hanging in the alcove, there, as well as the empty shelf cubes. . .

But, the audiences enjoyed the show and we did get the whole shebang done for opening!

Love, Loss, and What I Wore

Posted in General Production, Scenic Design on September 12th, 2018 by Eric Appleton

The semester has begun and so has construction on the first show of the season, “Love, Loss, and What I Wore.” First, a Sketchup rendering of the the set:

And now Intro to Theatre students and Shop Assistants legging platforms:

Two of the Intro students attaching masonite to the tops of some of the already legged platforms:

Abby, one of the shop assistants, building some of the small platforms:

And finally, shop assistant Megan working on some mirrored panels the shop has agreed to build for the marching band:

Strong Poison

Posted in General Production, Production Photo, Scenic Design, Student Work on April 23rd, 2018 by Eric Appleton

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, as we finished construction on “Strong Poison” and moved into technical rehearsal. First, a few construction photos:

Two students spackling and sanding one of the bookcases:

A member of the prop team applying some tender love and care to one of the chairs:

A bunch of the shelving waiting to be painted:

The set itself, half painted and awaiting those book shelves to be installed:

The view from behind the tech table as we wait to get rolling at first tech the other night:

And finally, student SM Sami calling the show during tech:

Strong Poison

Posted in General Production, Scenic Design, Student Work on April 9th, 2018 by Eric Appleton

Not only is construction of “Strong Poison” in full swing, light hang started on Friday!

Here’s student LD Alex, student ME Nick, (I’m not sure, but Abby might be an AME. . . forgive me if I’m not giving her proper credit) and two other students reviewing the plot:

Prepping units:

And teams finishing up the over stage part of the plot:

There’s also painting going on, which has been one of my projects:

Though here’s student Ryan working on some of the window frames, as well:

In the shop, all sorts of stuff is going on! Here TA Lilliana supervises pulling lumber for trim:

And here’s lumber being ripped down for the trim:

TA Megan seems very happy to explain a drawing to Katie (off-camera):

But is all business when explaining the table saw to two students who haven’t used it before:

Finally, tech director Ruth helps get the router set up for the creation of the trim:

Strong Poison

Posted in General Production, Scenic Design on March 23rd, 2018 by Eric Appleton

Spring Break begins at the end of the day today, but the shop is still working on the set for “Strong Poison.”

Here’s a photo of students working on the platforming:

In the shop, tech assistant Katie explains how to use the jigsaw:

Two of the Intro to Tech students consider the layout of. . . something:

And a shot of the platforming from the booth:

Earlier in the week, here’s the prop team painting the divination board:

And Michelle working on her scenic painting project — a section of stone:

Tarzan and Strong Poison

Posted in General Production, Scenic Design on March 19th, 2018 by Eric Appleton

After “Street Scene,” the department went straight into “Dancescapes ’18” which had already opened and closes tomorrow night. Last week, I spent time in Milwaukee working with Theatre Gigante on their production of “Tarzan,” written by a Slovakian playwright they met on a recent trip. It opened on Friday and will play for two weekends at UW-Milwaukee’s Kenilworth space. Here are a few pics from the dress rehearsals.

Tarzan calls to his family from the tree:

Tarzan and Jane in their hut at the edge of the Savannah:

Tarzan confronts Mike the Hyena in the middle of the night:

Then, of course, construction has begun on the department’s final show of the season, “Strong Poison,” an adaptation of the Dorothy Sayers mystery novel of the same name. Lots of platforms, so today is about legging things up.

Street Scene

Posted in General Production, Lighting Design, Scenic Design, Scenic Painting, Student Work on February 27th, 2018 by Eric Appleton

We opened “Street Scene” on Sunday. The past few weeks were very busy, and I did not manage to take much in the way of process photos. However, below are pictures from the final dress rehearsal on Friday. Of note are the student stage manager, student sound designer, student supertitle designer, and the fact that I had a student ALD helping me on the lighting (I did both scenery and lighting design on this one). It was directed by Kymberly Mellen, who is new to our department this year. Cast-wise, it’s the largest number of performers on the stage since I’ve been here at Whitewater, and a two story set added to the technical complexity. We made it to the finish line, though.

The top of the show, and how hot it is:

Mrs. Maurrant sings of her loniliness and how trapped she feels:

Mr. Easter tries to tempt Rose with Broadway:

“It’s a murder!”

Rose confronts her father after his capture:

And the cycle continues — how hot it is. . .

Street Scene

Posted in General Production, Scenic Design on January 23rd, 2018 by Eric Appleton

Over the winter break, the technical director and I had talks about the drawings and budgets, after which I went back to the director, who also had some further thoughts, and we’ve modified the set to reflect the conclusions.

We got rid of a set of windows, decided the Hildebrandts and the Buchanans won’t get their own windows (the Hildebrandts are on the fourth floor, after all!). This moved things off center. We also cut one of the lampposts, which is not shown in this image.

Classes started yesterday, the shops are open, and away we go!

1959 Pink Thunderbird

Posted in General Production, Scenic Design on December 6th, 2017 by Eric Appleton

Well, we opened yesterday! Here are some photos from final dress.

First, one of the set for “Laundry and Bourbon” under worklights:

And then the run proper:

Then we switch over to “Lone Star:”

On to “Street Scene!”

1959 Pink Thunderbird

Posted in General Production, Scenic Design on November 29th, 2017 by Eric Appleton

The week before Thanksgiving, we hosted the Wisconsin High School Theatre Festival. Here’s a bunch of the traffic signage sitting the shop, waiting to be placed around campus:

So, between the Festival and the holiday, we are fairly behind on our work for “1959 Pink Thunderbird”. We forge ahead!